Just had a rude awakening and thought I would pass it along. The battery on my Blackberry went dead and wouldn't recharge. I went to the Verizon store and they wanted $39.95 plus tax for a new battery. The clerk, a very nice young man, suggested I try Ebay. Ebay has them by the dozens...new...for $3.95...My God, I couldn't believe the markup. Learned a valuable lesson, hope it helps someone else.

Just be extremely vigilant when purchasing these kinds of items. I am 99% certain these are fake batteries produced illegally as opposed to legally in China. Our Customs and Border Protection (CBP) folks do a wonderful job of finding counterfeit everything in the packages/shipments they inspect, however due to the large number of items imported into this country it is physically impossible at this time for a 100% inspection.

That is too much of a difference in mark up! Please beware and intelligently make a decision to purchase a battery that may catch fire when charged!!!

Who are you going to sue for instance if your house burns down because you were mowing the grass outside while your cell phone was charging inside on the kitchen counter? Google this subject and make your own decision.

This is the same as the Oakley sunglasses being sold on the side of the road for $5.00 a pair.... Not the real deal, the majority of these fake sun glasses actually do not have any sort of UV protection. So the unsuspecting consumer wears them and actually their retinas are receiving more harmful radiation from the sun then if they were not wearing glasses at all due to the fact the lens are darkened thus tricking the pupils to open wider allowing more radiation into the eye then if one was just squinting!

Over exposure to UV radiation is linked to cataracts....

Just one example of many things out there that is simply not worth the risk to save a few bucks!

Your life, your choice, I just want you to understand the safety concerns associated with the use of certain counterfeit items.

Google SUREFIRE COUNTERFEIT BATTERY STATEMENT and you will find a press made by SUREFIRE a couple years ago. There have been multiple reported instances of fake 123A batteries catching fire. There has been at least one instance where the battery caught fire in the flashlight while NOT in use and just on an Officer's duty belt!!!

Now I understand you are talking rechargeable cell phone batteries and this particular warning is for a 'throwaway' battery' but with that being said... Please don't buy the eBay battery.

And my final argument, lol, is no matter what the advertisement says on eBay from the seller, there is a good chance that a $4.00 cell phone battery is not going to hold a charge worth a toot. In most cases, you truly get what you pay for... There are always good deals in a ball park price, but like the sunglasses on the side of the road, those prices are not ballpark prices!